Gaston Bonfils (French, 1855-1946)
Sheaves in a Harvest Field, with An Orchard in Blossom on the reverse
Oil on wood panel, painted on both sides

Signed lower left G. Bonfils. 9 x 13 inches (23 x 33 cm), the frame 15 x 19 inches (38 x 48.5 cm). Gilt and black frame with a linen slip. Panel sound, both paintings intact.

The largest sheaf stands in the middle of the field, and the others step back from it across the stubble toward two dark trees.

Bonfils turns his brush for each part of the ground. The sheaves go up in vertical strokes of straw and honey, with touches of red and violet in their shadows and dark seams left open where the bundles lean apart. The stubble goes sideways. It is laid in broad loaded drags of pink and cream that leave raised ridges of paint, and above it the sky takes more than half the panel, grey and violet cloud laid on thickly with patches of clear blue between.

Turn the panel over and the season changes. On the back a white tree in blossom stands in a spring meadow under tall dark poplars, with a small figure in black on the path beside it.